1978 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football
Cotton Bowl champion
Cotton Bowl Classic, W 35–34 vs. Houston
Conference	Independent
Ranking
Coaches	No. 6
AP	No. 7
Record	9–3
Head coach	Dan Devine (4th season)
Offensive coordinator	Merv Johnson (4th season)
Captains	Bob Golic Jerome Heavens Joe Montana
Home stadium	Notre Dame Stadium
Seasons ← 1977 1979 →

1978 NCAA Division I-A independents football records

v t e	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		T			W		L		T
No. 4 Penn State		–		–				11	–	1	–	0
North Texas State		–		–				9	–	2	–	0
East Carolina		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
Navy		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
No. 7 Notre Dame		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
Rutgers		–		–				9	–	3	–	0
Florida State		–		–				8	–	3	–	0
Tennessee State		–		–				8	–	3	–	0
Temple		–		–				7	–	3	–	1
Pittsburgh		–		–				8	–	4	–	0
Holy Cross		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Louisville		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
UNLV		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Southern Miss		–		–				7	–	4	–	0
Northeast Louisiana		–		–				6	–	4	–	1
Georgia Tech		–		–				7	–	5	–	0
Hawaii		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
Miami (FL)		–		–				6	–	5	–	0
South Carolina		–		–				5	–	5	–	1
William & Mary		–		–				5	–	5	–	1
Cincinnati		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Villanova		–		–				5	–	6	–	0
Army		–		–				4	–	6	–	1
Memphis State		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Tulane		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Virginia Tech		–		–				4	–	7	–	0
Air Force		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Colgate		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Richmond		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Syracuse		–		–				3	–	8	–	0
Illinois State		–		–				2	–	9	–	0
West Virginia		–		–				2	–	9	–	0
Boston College		–		–				0	–	11	–	0
Rankings from AP Poll

The 1978 Notre Dame Fighting Irish football team represented the University of Notre Dame as an independent during the 1978 NCAA Division I-A football season. Led by fourth-year head coach Dan Devine, the Fighting Irish compiled an overall record of 9–3. Notre Dame was invited to the Cotton Bowl Classic, where the Irish beat Houston, 35–34, after quarterback Joe Montana rallied the team from a 22-point deficit in the fourth quarter. The team played home games at Notre Dame Stadium in Notre Dame, Indiana.

The team was expected to be one of the top teams of the season. It was said that the team could be "awesome on offense" due to having eight returning starters including, Joe Montana, however, there were concerns about the team losing players due to graduations and injuries. The September 23 game against Michigan was cited as a possible pathway for Notre Dame to earn the #1 ranking.^[1]

Schedule

Date	Time	Opponent	Rank	Site	TV	Result	Attendance
September 9	1:30 p.m.	Missouri	No. 5	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN		L 0–3	59,075
September 23	11:50 a.m.	No. 5 Michigan	No. 14	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	ABC	L 14–28	59,075
September 30	1:30 p.m.	Purdue		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)		W 10–6	59,075
October 7	1:30 p.m.	at Michigan State		Spartan Stadium East Lansing, MI (rivalry)		W 29–25	77,087
October 14	12:40 p.m.	No. 9 Pittsburgh		Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)	ABC	W 26–17	59,075
October 21	2:30 p.m.	at Air Force	No. 20	Falcon Stadium Colorado Springs, CO (rivalry)		W 38–15	35,425
October 28	1:30 p.m.	Miami (FL)	No. 19	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN (rivalry)		W 20–0	59,075
November 4	1:50 p.m.	vs. No. 11 Navy	No. 15	Cleveland Municipal Stadium Cleveland, OH (rivalry)		W 27–7	63,780
November 11	1:30 p.m.	Tennessee	No. 14	Notre Dame Stadium Notre Dame, IN		W 31–14	59,075
November 18	1:30 p.m.	at No. 20 Georgia Tech	No. 10	Grant Field Atlanta, GA (rivalry)		W 38–21	54,526
November 25	4:10 p.m.	at No. 3 USC	No. 8	Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum Los Angeles, CA (rivalry)	ABC	L 25–27	84,256
January 1, 1979	2:00 p.m.	vs. No. 9 Houston	No. 10	Cotton Bowl Dallas, TX (Cotton Bowl)	CBS	W 35–34	32,500
Rankings from AP Poll released prior to the game All times are in Eastern time

Game summaries

Michigan

• The Reunion Game - first meeting between the two schools in 35 years
• Notre Dame wore green jerseys for the game

Pittsburgh

1 2 3 4 Total #9 Pittsburgh 0 10 0 7 17 • Notre Dame 7 0 0 19 26 Date: October 14 Location: Notre Dame Stadium, South Bend, Indiana Game start: 12:40 p.m. EDT Game attendance: 59,075 Referee: Glenn Fortin (Big Ten) TV announcers (ABC): Keith Jackson and Frank Broyles

Scoring summary 1 ND Heavens 1-yard run (Unis kick) ND 7-0 2 PITT Trocano 3-yard run (Schubert kick) Tied 7-7 2 PITT Schubert 33-yard field goal PITT 10-7 4 PITT Trocano 3-yard run (Schubert kick) PITT 17-7 4 ND Haines 8-yard pass from Montana (pass failed) PITT 17-13 4 ND Montana 1-yard run (kick failed) ND 19-17 4 ND Ferguson 3-yard pass from Montana (Unis kick) ND 26-17

Notre Dame handed #9 Pittsburgh its first loss of the season.^[2] Jerome Heavens, who had never seen Knute Rockne, All American, surpassed George Gipp on the school's all-time rushing list. Heavens passed Gipp on his 24th carry but lost yardage on his 25th before moving past him for good on his 26th attempt. "I think the Gipper tackled me on that," Heavens said.^[3]

Cotton Bowl

The Cotton Bowl win over Houston on New Year's Day was Notre Dame's 600th victory.^[4]

Zdroj:https://en.wikipedia.org?pojem=1978_Notre_Dame_Fighting_Irish_football_team
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